The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-04-23
THE PARsEEs OF INDIA.
Pcculiaritics Of Their Religion Explained
by One of Theiy Priests.

The servant hurried into the reading
room with the card on q silver tray.
When he returned gentleman, slen-
der, of the medium height, with gold
eyeglasses resting on n finely-moulded
nose, accompanied him. The gentle
man bowed to the reporter. you de-
sire," he said, "to see meP"
"If you please"
every much pleased. Be seated"
the Indian seated himself on big
leathcr-covcred sofa, resting his head
lightly upon the back. The writer sat
down beside him.
"You are -
al am Kevasjee Pcstangec. do not
blame you that you hesitate when you
come to pronounce my name.
al have come from India, rs you
have seen. ] am lcisurcly making my
way round the world. have seen all
that desire of Europe, and now I am
making tour of this country. have
already been in New York and Boston.
I am Parsee."
"a fire worshipcrp"
mo; not n fire worshiper. That is
an erroneous idea that many have.
The Parsecs do not worship fire. They
worship the one God. They pay re-
respects to the clements-iirc, water
and the rest--as great works of God,
without which we could not exist.
Fire is one of the most beautiful and
striking of the elements. When q
Parsee, in praying, turns his face to.
wards the sun he does not worship the
sun, but looks upon it as illustrating
the power and the majesty Of the su.
premc being. Fire burns always in oul
temples, as u symbol, rs sacred sym
Dol, but always symbol. There arc
10000 or 1000 of us in India. We dc
not propagate our religion. More
than that, we do no. take others into
our religion even. We are exclusive
Our temples are open only to those o.
our faith, and even when religion.
rites are performed in y room no ONT
not of our religion can be present"
you then hold to the orthodo,
teachings of your religion"
"Ycs, am u priest"
"A pricstP"
"Yes; a priest of the outer temple
The priesthood in our religion, a
among the old Jews, is hereditary. NJ
| layman ever can become priest.
am a member of the priestly caste. M.
father before me was q priest, and S,
on. l in my youth performed the 81
cred functions. But l laid them OF
afterward, and chose another profes
sion. / first went into mercantile life
and later became lawyer. The law i
still my profession"
care the Parsees distinguished b.
any mark from those of other religion
who live round themp"
"Ycs; every Parsce wears sacre
shirt. / have one on me now. N
Parsee is ever without it, no matte
how far he travels. 1t is made of null
very light and gauzy. Upon the breas
square piece of cloth is sewed wit
sacred thread. The square has no lei
tering upon it, but to the Parsee it sig
nilies equality and justice. The gan
ment is put upon the Parsee child 4
the age of seven, and from that on tn
child is in full communion with on
faith, and is held morally responsible
for his acts"
What progress does Christianit
make among the natives of lndia?"
ut has made very considerabl
progress, especially among the lowe
classes. I think, however, that tn
progress has been much stayed durin
the last ten or fifteen years, and tha
few converts are made now."
1.-The Parsees do not object to tn
spread of Christianity?"
"No; we fear only the Mohamm,
dams. They only hate us, and they hav
oppressed us. England is Christia
country, and the Parsees all favor an
support England in India. They woul
support it, too, against Russia, as
think most natives of India would. w
favor the English because they hay
given us protection and justice. Unde
them we are first in civilization anon
all the Indians. But Persia is our coul
try, and Cyrus was our King-Cyrr
who released the Jews from bondag,
--InteruieW IN PHILADELPHIA Press.